No One Lining Up to Buy iPhone 8 in China

New iPhone releases are somewhat of a big deal in China. 

In the past we've seen mobs of crazed Steve Jobs fans and scalpers flock to their nearest Apple store, lining up hours before the stores open to get their hands on the hottest new device. It was basically the event of the year.

So big were the launches that customers used to riot during iPhone launches. People actually got into physical altercations and threw eggs — all over the iPhone 4S. 

Riots at the Beijing Apple Store for the release of the iPhone 4S

Fights break out during release of iPhone 4S in Beijing

Hell, one desperate teen even sold his kidney for an older model of the iPhone in 2012.

But those wild days are over, as China's Apple hysteria apparently doesn't seem to apply to the iPhone 8.

In what may be yet another blow to Apple's falling sales in China as its grip on the overall market share continues to slip, images circulating on social media showed that the country's smartphone users were not exactly enthusiastic about the new product launch on Friday, September 22, thanks in part to poor reviews.

You can practically hear the crickets outside the deserted Sanlitun Apple Store in Beijing, once a hot spot for people to fight over the iPhone 4:

Hangzhou's flagship Apple Store, near popular tourist attraction West Lake, could use a tumbleweed blowing between its empty lines. So much for those barricades!

Stone cold silence in Nanjing. Awkward.

Et tu, Hong Kong? That's gotta hurt.

Only three lonely customers were lined up outside an Apple Store in Hong Kong's Hysan Plaza, a well-known shopping center, at 7.30am yesterday morning.

Over in Shanghai, one security guard outside the Apple Store branch at IAPM Mall on Huaihai Lu said the difference between this year's launch of the iPhone 8 and last year's of the iPhone 7 was "huge."

"This morning there were only a dozen customers at the door," he told a reporter yesterday. "Last year the crowd queued from morning until noon."

Meanwhile, some customers at the brand's People's Square outlet told local media that they didn't care too much for the iPhone 8 and were instead holding out to splurge on the iPhone X, which is set to launch in November with a hefty price tag of over RMB8,000.

Best case scenario for Apple: everyone's just buying the iPhone 8 online now. Worst case? Everyone's already switched over to a cheapo Huawei and can't be bothered with a RMB6,000 phone.

[Images via WeChat, CNN, MicGadget, All Things D, Telegraph]

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